Kids under 12 with prescriptions between +0.75 and -0.25 are Pre-Myopic!

I recently went to the Global Specialty Contact Lens Symposium, a gathering of optometrists who are specialize in specialty contacts like Ortho-k lenses, Sclerals, Trans-limbal lenses, and Rigid Gas Permeable lenses… all the stuff I live and breathe for…

And the goody bag I got at registration came with this nice gift from Johnson & Johnson Vision:

By 2050 50% of the world’s population will have myopia!

Why is everyone losing their distance vision?

Because everyone (myself included) is addicted to digital devices.

I know it’s bad for my vision but I can’t go a day… haha day more like hour… without it.

So if you don’t use your distance vision you lose it.

And most people spend most of their time inside doing near work (reading on books or digital devices) and not outdoors looking in the distance.

Especially kids.

My kids love their digital device so much that the last time they had a sleep over at grandma’s house all they brought were their tablets. No pajamas. No change of clothes. No toothbrushes. No snacks. Just 3 kids showing up at grandma’s house wearing a backpack containing one tablet and one charger… because God forbid they have to share a charger.

There’s also a genetic component. Both my parents are myopic. My mom is -9.00 D in both eyes. If being -6.00 D increases your risk of myopic macular degeneration 846x, what is her risk level at -9.00 D?

My husband and I are also myopic, so my kids are definitely going to be myopic unless I take some extreme measures to prevent it.

Luckily my specialty is orthokeratology.

And intent on preventing myopia progression in all my kids.

I already fit my 9 year old 7 year old sons in ortho k lenses.

@preventativeeyecare

#orthokeratology #paragon #crt #eyebraces #correctyourvisionwhileyousleep #preventativeeyecare #eyedoctor #contactlenses #contactlenschallenge #howfastcanyouputyourcontactsin

♬ original sound – Dr. Rae Huang, OD


This is my 4 year old daughter’s prescription, which I measured using Welch Allyn’s Spot Vision Screener which allows me to check kids prescriptions by pointing a camera-shaped device at them from 3 feet away (I love all my eye measuring gadgets!). She has 0 prescription in one eye and +0.25 in the other, which according to Johnson & Johnson Vision is considered Pre-Myopia.

Zero prescription is Pre-Myopia!

Kids are born hyperopic and should still have hyperopia above +0.75 D by age 12.

But with the amount of near work most kids are exposed to before age 12, most 12 year old patients I see do not have hyperopia above +0.75 D.

So it’s easy to see how 50% of the world will be myopic by 2050.

Well I am intent on preventing my 4 year old daughter Dalia from becoming myopic.

So I fit her into ortho k.

It was hard.

And it took many tries.

But she got the lenses in!

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